GM is beefing up Scouting

[Bubble4427]

Cardinals, not the Blues.

The Blues draft 15 or higher by strong choice. At that range, you don't need Scouts. You just need a dart board.

Yeah, no. I would argue that at this position your scouting department is more vital than ever. You need good people who are trained to recognize unrealized talent from those who have topped out in their potential. There is a lot less room for error when you draft 15 or higher and you must have the scouting to make good evaluations that lead to solid decision making on selection.

I disagree.

When you draft low, you are drafting on future potential, and future growth. No one can predict that, at least not very well. And you know how I know this? Because when these prospects fail, the GM IS NOT BLAMED. It's the player's fault 100%.

Conversely, when you draft 1,2,3,4,5, you better be a good scout because MISTAKES ARE GLARING. If the draft pick is mediocre, the GM IS BLAMED.

It's amazing to me that Army is considered a good scout, when he has NEVER selected high. He's been handed Olympic Gold for winning a few games on the sandlot.

Dvorsky is the highest that Army has drafted in forever. How is that working out? Is he looking like he is a future NHL standout? I don't think that anyone is predicting that for quite some time.

First off, Army is not a good scout or a bad scout for he is not a scout. Nor has he ever been a scout. He’s obviously one of the main talent evaluators in the org but we have a whole scouting dept for that purpose. And under the 3 separate Directors of Amateur Scouting that have been under Army, the draft results have been way above league average under all 3 (Jarmo Kekalainen, Bill Armstrong and now Tony Feltrin). Jarmo and Bill were so good at their jobs that they were hired away by other teams to be their GM. Tony, while not on the job a ton of years yet, has already had good success with Neighbours, Bolduc, Snuggerud with the guys from 2023, 2024 and 2025 looking good too. But it takes time for the fruit from the drafting tree to blossom.

Also, your premise that you keep pushing that somehow GMs (or their scouting depts) aren’t judged for picks in the mid 1st is simply plain wrong. It’s yet another (false) opinion of yours you present as fact. Of course they’re held accountable! Heck, many here still complain about Perunovich even though he was a 45th overall pick and the kid drafted 45th overall has about a 70-75% chance of not making it.

Also, you say “When you draft low, you are drafting on future potential, and future growth. No one can predict that, at least not very well.” I could not disagree more. That’s quite literally the definitely it scouting! Trying to predict what these imperfect 17-18 yr olds that have a ton of growth ahead of them will develop into in 5-10 years is quite literally the job. But you underscore just what a hard job it is…yet somehow miss the point completely. Identifying the best player in the draft usually isn’t the hard part. It’s identifying the underheralded player that has a lot of skill and the reasons why you think he’s going to pop and shoot up in development in the coming years that’s much harder. And the Blues have shown time and again that they’re abominable the very best at that.

Great post.
You made VERY GOOD points that I'm sure will just garner the response of "crickets" from the troll.

I'd like to add that when a GM makes a trade, it doesn't mean that he is trying to right a previous error as the OP claims.
GM's make trades when an opportunity presents itself to improve your team. Ideally, to do that, you deal from an area of strength to do so.

[BluesDom]

Our Gm is terrible. He cant draft. He cant tank properly. Army is horrible. ASOG is right. She is always right.
Ms. ASOG what now? Now that we acknowledge your greatness--what is next? Doesnt your husband acknowledge your greatness? Do you need us to pump you up?

I have never heard you complain--Tell us what is troubling you maam.